Every couple of generations, the Buchanans tend to build
a
new wing on the old country pile, necessitating the
purchase of new furniture. With the recent opening of
the
nor'-nor'-east wing (housing the tropical arboretum and
the
accordion library), this task has fallen upon me.

Somehow,
when furniture is delivered, it invariably looks
larger, smaller or (in one case) an entirely different
shape
from what the stated dimensions indicated. One is then
left with the tedious task of having one's people re-
package it and send it back.

Therefore, I urge all purveyors of furniture to consider
providing, at little or no cost, simulacra of their wares
constructed of assemblable cardboard.

At its simplest, such a simulacrum might be a large box
(flat packed for delivery) of the same dimensions as the
actual furniture. However, a more origamic
approach
could be used, and combined with colour printing, to
produce a better facsimile of the item.

Such cardboard replicas would not only avoid
embarrassing
misunderstandings over units (such as ordering a book
case
which is 60 inches wide, rather than the intended 60
feet),
but would also make it easy to try out different
arrangements of the putative furniture.

// a full assortment of stool samples which you could place in your own diarrhama //

Were they carried in vitreous enamel, or porcelain containers ?

We submit that supply of furniture made of cardboard has already been pioneered by MFI Ltd., who made a virtue of the fact that the furniture they sold was rather less substantial and durable (though somewhat more unsightly and tasteless) than the packaging in which it was delivered.

There, you see, is the problem. The critical factor
here, as in so many aspects of life, is size; and that
is precisely the quality which miniatures fail
adequately to represent. Life-size miniatures are
what are called for here.

Bit of an embarassing story there. Belthorpe
("Belcher") Buchanan was in British Malaya back in
the 1880's, and told his people that he wanted a
1:20 replica of the old English homestead
constructed alongside the plantation, as a
reminder of home.

Now, to you and I, the difference between "1:20"
and "20:1" is probably quite clear. It was also
quite clear to the Malay workmen, but alas in the
opposite sense to the English usage.

You can then project these, using one of those mini projectors into/unto the available spaces? A linked computer would allow the images to be turned and manoeuvred correctly to exact scale. (do I get croissants that I can bank for my fab idea?)

I know someone who's job is a bit like that - he
incorporates properly rendered and shaded 3D
models of buildings which don't exist into flypast
videos of cities, so that people can see what the
finished buildings will look like (see link).

Makes sense. Easy to move and shuffle around. It is so much cheaper you might find yourself never buying the real stuff.

Suppose you build a 23 room mansion, but run out of cash in the middle. If the cardboard photographs well, you can pretend your still solvent for several years. Even sell at a profit when real estate market turns up again finally.

[xenzag], there is an IKEA tablet app that does "virtual installations" (augmented reality) to show furniture as it might be in your house. I haven't played with it in a while; calibration was a bit tricky.